U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn crashes during Olympic giant slalom

Jerry Lai/US PresswireLindsey Vonn lost control during the middle portion of the Olympic giant slalom today and crashed.

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Elisabeth Goergl of Austria led after the opening run of the Olympic giant slalom Wednesday, while American Lindsey Vonn crashed and injured her right pinkie.

With snow and fog making visibility difficult, Goergl sped down Franz's GS in 1 minute, 15.12 seconds. Taina Barioz of France was only 0.02 behind, and Kathrin Zettel of Austria was third, 0.16 back.

Goergl trailed Barioz at each checkpoint, then was faster on the bottom section of the course.

Vonn lost control around a right turn in the middle section of the course, got twisted around, landed hard on her left hip and crashed backward into the safety netting.

Defending champion Julia Mancuso had her first run down interrupted due to Vonn's crash, then was brought back up for another try and placed 18th, 1.30 seconds behind Goergl.

Mancuso had posted faster split times in her first attempt.

Goergl took bronze behind Vonn and Mancuso in the downhill that opened the women's Alpine portion of the games. She has won three World Cup races in her career, two in giant slalom -- but the last nearly two years ago.

Barioz's best finish in any discipline was third in a giant slalom in Lienz, Austria, in December.

Zettel opened her games by finishing fourth in the super-combined. A technical specialist, she is second in this season's World Cup giant slalom standings, having won the GS in Maribor, Slovenia, last month.

Another Austrian, Eva-Maria Brem, was fourth, and Tina Maze of Slovenia -- who took silver in super-G -- was fifth.

German standout Maria Riesch was seventh, 0.48 second behind Goergl; Swedish great Anja Paerson was 12th, 0.89 out, and Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was 13th, with 1.04 to make up.

"The visibility was pretty bad. We could see about three gates so you really had to trust yourself," Paerson said. "I think I have a good chance of taking a medal here, but then I really have to charge in the second run."

Sarah Schleper of Vail, Colo., was the top American finisher in the opening run in 14th, 1.07 back.